October 2012

October 23.—The British schooner Francis, of Nassau, N. P., was captured in the vicinity of Indian River, Florida, by the United States gunboat Sagamore.—The rebel authorities at Richmond were notified that aliens, or persons claiming the protection of foreign governments, would not be allowed to go North on the flag of trace boats.

—A fight took place near Waverly, Tenn., between a reconnoitring party of Union troops, consisting of about two hundred of the Eighty-third Illinois infantry, supported by one piece of artillery, under the command of Major Blott, and a large force of rebel guerrillas, which resulted, after an hour’s duration, in a complete rout of the latter, with a loss of about forty of their number killed and wounded, and thirty taken prisoners. The Unionists had one killed, and several wounded.—(Doc. 38.)

—General Rosecrans issued an order from his headquarters at Corinth, Miss., announcing that “the Seventeenth Iowa regiment, by its gallantry in the battle of Corinth, on the fourth, charging the enemy and capturing the flag of the Fortieth Mississippi, had amply atoned for its misfortune at Iuka, and stands among the honored regiments of his command.”—The United States gunboats Merrimac and Mississippi, with the Third, Fifth, and Forty-fourth Massachusetts regiments on board, left Boston this morning for Newbern, N. C.—The Richmond Dispatch of this date published a letter purporting to be from a nephew of Secretary Seward.—See Supplement.

—The combined rebel armies under Generals Bragg and E. Kirby Smith, reached Tennessee on their retreat from Kentucky this day. A correspondent, who accompanied the army, thus writes to the Sun, a rebel paper at Columbia, Tenn.: “The combined armies of Generals Bragg and Kirby Smith, including the forces of McCown, Stephenson, and Marshall, began their retrograde movement on the thirteenth instant, from Dick’s River, not far distant from Harrodsburgh, Ky., General Bragg’s force leading and passing out of the State ahead of General Smith. Many of the men are worn out with almost constant marching, by day and by night, pinched a great portion of the time by hunger and thirst, and having to subsist a good portion of the time on parched corn, pumpkins, etc, and drinking frequently water from holes. How different the feelings of officers and men of these armies now, compared with what they were upon their entrance into Kentucky two months since! It is unnecessary for me to say here that the expedition of the confederate forces into Kentucky, has resulted in a miserable failure.”—Columbia Sun. —A fight occurred at a bridge near Shelby Depot, Tenn., between a reconnoitring force of Union troops under the command of Colonel Stuart, Fifty-fifth Illinois, and a body of guerrillas, who had set fire to the bridge, resulting in a rout of the rebels, with a loss of eight or ten of their number killed.—The Fifteenth regiment of Vermont volunteers, commanded by Colonel Redfield Proctor, passed through Springfield, Mass., on the way to the scene of war.—Springfield Republican.

—A force of five hundred Union cavalry, under the command of Colonel Edward McCook, left Crab Orchard, Kentucky, this morning, and proceeded toward Point Lick and Big Hill, where they encountered several bands of Morgan’s guerrillas and Scott’s rebel cavalry, killing four or five of them and capturing their telegraph operator, with his apparatus; also, thirty-three wagons, partly loaded. Thence the Union forces proceeded to Richmond, where they captured two hundred sick and wounded rebels, whom they paroled.

—The ship Lafayette, of New-Haven, Captain Small, from New-York for Belfast, with a cargo of wheat and corn, was this day captured, and burned in latitude 40, longitude 64, by the rebel privateer Alabama.